PACCAR BLOG

PACCAR DEALER OF THE MONTH – SOUTHPAC TRUCKS – MAY 2017

Introducing Maarten Durent, Dealer Principal of Southpac Trucks Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua and Christchurch, who is the PACCAR Dealer of the Month for May, 2017.

For our May Dealer of the Month Maarten introduced us to his business and gave us some insight into what makes the dealership so successful.

“Southpac Truck Centres is a well-established company, with awesome people, backed by New Zealand’s leading automotive group The Colonial Motor Company Ltd.”

“Something unique about our New Zealand Dealerships is a lot of characters work here. People have elbow room to get on with the job, learn and advance themselves, without too much compliance and overbearing regulation getting in the way of progress.”

“The highlight of our Dealership was ‘The Gathering’ which celebrated 50 Years of Kenworth in New Zealand. It was a massive event with more than 300 historic and current model trucks on show, followed by a massive party.”

“When considering my role model there isn’t one person that I can specifically identify, but I do look at the best qualities from companies and people in the industry such as PACCAR, my boss Graeme Gibbons, John Key our PM and a NZ customer Ron Carpenter. There is a common theme there – all believe in quality, always do the right thing for your client and they are no-nonsense people.”

“My favourite local spot in Auckland is out on the Hauraki Gulf, on our boat with my wife Julie and sons Reuben and Andre. It’s absolutely beautiful, right on Auckland’s doorstep.”

“Boats are my hobby and if I wasn’t working in the truck industry I can imagine there would be a nautical theme of some sorts in there, in sales and service side of the business.”

“My favourite model of truck is the Kenworth T659 8×4 logger. Working with Phil Webb at Kenworth and bringing this truck to market was a lot of fun and a great success story.”

“The project I’m most proud of is completing eight years of dealership upgrades-expansions and new dealership locations. These are very challenging. The big renovations are disruptive and the logistics of making the changes, and working to deadlines are really exciting. The big reward is seeing the staff’s reaction when they move back into their workshops with new equipment and warehouses and brand spanking new offices.”

“There isn’t one particular customer experience I am proud of but generally a big focus of my role is to enable our sales team to be successful by constantly working on improving after sales service, it’s a never ending challenge, because I keep cooking up new ideas or importing overseas concepts to NZ.”

Thank you Maarten for your insight!

L-R: Maarten Durant (left) with John Key, NZ’s former Prime Minister and the trucks at ‘The Gathering’, the celebration of 50 Years of Kenworth in New Zealand.